As a passionate fan of the “Battlefield” series, I love just about every game mode the series has to offer. Many of my fellow gamers are surely excited for the release of “Battlefield 1,” and I am hoping a number of types of play make their return in the World War I-themed shooter. Not only that, I would also like to see DICE refurbish these modes in order to bring more balance and a sense of enjoyment to the player base as a whole. I will present five of my favorite game modes from “Battlefield” in addition to how they could be adjusted, improved, or otherwise altered for the purpose of the game’s setting and for a better experience.
Conquest
The return of this game mode should be a no-brainer for the developers. It is a tried and true formula for a balance in infantry-based and vehicular gameplay with plenty of room for strategy and teamwork. The primary objective of Conquest is to take as many control points on the map as possible, which results in the enemy team losing their “tickets” (aka, respawns, lives, deaths, points, take your pick…) faster than your own team. The flags that represented the control points would rise and descend as an opposing team would attempt to capture it, and some of these control points allowed more vehicles to spawn in addition to providing additional locations for controlling players to return to the combat. The game mode inevitably worked in a variety of maps ranging from the most congested CQB skirmishes to the wide-open ranges rife with tank battles and snipers. This is one of my absolute favorites from the series, and I do not believe this mode requires too many adjustments, although I would suggest that players in vehicles have less of an impact on the capturing of objectives. Also, I think that in the event of a “landlock,” when one team has all the points under their control, the opposing should be given faster capture times for the time it takes to retake their first control point. This would hopefully prevent long and rather boring shutouts. Believe it or not, it can be just as annoying for the winning team as well as the losing team.
Rush
This is my favorite mode in the “Battlefield” series, and it provided some of the most epic moments of asymmetric digital warfare in its greatest moments. I fell in love with this mode in “Bad Company 2,” as it consists of an attacking team destroying multiple pairs of M-COM stations being defended by enemy players. The attackers were limited to 75 or 100 tickets, depending on which console or server you were playing on, but with each pair of M-COM stations taken, they would push the defenders closer and closer to their final base, often escalating the conflict and the stakes. The attackers were often reinforced with assault vehicles, such as tanks and helicopters, while the defenders were given either no vehicles at all or more defensive craft, such as anti-aircraft artillery. I personally believe Rush was at its best back in the days of “Bad Company 2” and “BF3” to a lesser extent. Arguably, the biggest improvement to Rush is not an alteration of the game mode itself. Rather, much like “Bad Company 2,” DICE would be wise to create at least a few maps designed specifically to cater the more linear game mode, maybe even introduce a few remakes of fan favorites like Arica Harbor and Valparaiso with an early 20th-century aesthetic overhaul. Speaking of aesthetics, M-COM’s are quite advanced pieces of technology that have no place in 1917, which gives DICE the opportunity to replace them with diverse objectives like ammo caches, engineering plants, enemy rations and even makeshift field hospitals.
Domination
While the two previous modes featured heavy use of vehicular gameplay, Domination was introduced to cater fans of pure infantry skirmishes. Domination functions similarly to Conquest, except flags change hands much more quickly, and they are always limited to three control points on very small maps. This is perfect for fast-paced, intense firefights. It also appeals to the less dedicated players of “Battlefield” while providing an alternate mode of play to the traditional formula of the franchise. While this mode is quite generic and has little need to be adjusted in terms of the WWI setting, it is best to state that DICE should do well to maintain a sense of balance and provide opportunities for losing teams to break deadlocks and make potential comebacks.
Chain Link
If Domination is the infantry-based mode meant for a more casual audience, then Chain Link provides a more competitive counter. Chain Link is an exceptional addition to the variety within “Battlefield.” First introduced in the Dragon’s Teeth expansion in “BF4,” Chain Link consists of Control points that act like links in a chain, hence the name. Capturing adjacent objectives results in a link, and the more links your team controls, the more the enemy ticket counter bleeds. Links can be taken quite easily, much like the Control Points in Domination, and breaking links at critical points can ruin the momentum that a team can build. This is a game mode that relies heavily on teamwork rather than playing the lone wolf. I sincerely hope that this mode makes a return in “Battlefield 1.” This is also a mode that does not require much tweaking for the sake of the setting, though the possible inclusion of horse mounts may ruin the flow of the game. I also would like to see if longer capture times could improve Chain Link, as I think the capture times are really fast. Nevertheless, Chain Link is a very fun game mode, as victory often requires keeping one’s head on a swivel and keeping the team in constant communication.
Air Superiority
One word: biplanes. The first modern war is famous for its notorious dogfights between the Central Powers and the Allies. Second only to trench warfare, the utter infamy of the Red Baron often comes to mind when thinking of World War I. Air Superiority is essentially a version of Conquest that only permits the use of jets and fighter planes. DICE would be quite mad to not include this game mode somewhere along the line in “Battlefield 1.” I can easily see this mode as becoming a fan favorite for the setting alone. It would certainly be a selling point in my book, and by the looks of the trailer, I am confident that this mode is at least being considered for the upcoming FPS.
While I still feel mixed in my impressions of “Battlefield 1,” I do believe DICE has been making great strides in managing and accommodating the community with worthwhile content. I believe that we will see at least a few of these modes return, along with a few new surprises. I will be tuning in to E3 and EA Play in the coming weeks, as I am excited as ever for more news on the next “Battlefield” game.
